Barbara Ruick

Barbara Ruick (✦December 23, 1932 – †March 3, 1974) was an American actress and singer.

Early years

Ruick was the daughter of actors Lurene Tuttle and Melville Ruick, and grew up acting out scenes with dolls, employing her mother as an audience.

Ruick attended North Hollywood High School. She did little acting in high school but joined a school band at the age of 14. Ruick sang with the band at dances and benefits.

Career

L-R: Ruick with Bob Fosse, Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953)

Early in her career, Ruick performed in clubs and acted in Little Theater productions. She found success in radio before signing as a contract player with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She was featured in the original radio version of Dragnet and also recorded several songs for MGM Records. In the 1950s, Ruick starred as Kay in the first LP recording of songs from George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin's 1926 Broadway musical Oh, Kay!. This studio cast recording, conducted by Lehman Engel, was released by Columbia Records.

She secured a position on Hollywood Screen Test, a talent show that aired on ABC from 1948 to 1953. Ruick appeared on Kraft Television Theatre, soap operas, and The College Bowl (1950), hosted by Chico Marx. She also performed for fifteen weeks on The Jerry Colonna Show. In 1955, she became a regular on The Johnny Carson Show.

Ruick made guest appearances on The Millionaire (1957), The Public Defender (1954), The Brothers Brannagan (1960), The 20th Century Fox Hour (1956), and Climax Mystery Theater (1955).

In 1951, Ruick was signed by MGM for a role in the film Invitation (1952). She had minor parts in her first four films, one being The Band Wagon (1953), and then moved on to supporting roles. Her most notable performances both came from Rodgers and Hammerstein. She portrayed Carrie Pipperidge in the film version of Carousel (1956) and Esmerelda, one of the wicked stepsisters, in the 1965 TV rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

She released several singles of her singing on the MGM label in 1952 and 1953, including some arranged by Nelson Riddle.

Barbara Ruick gallery

Personal life

Ruick married actor Robert Horton in 1953. She had co-starred with Horton in the movie Apache War Smoke the previous year. The couple separated just prior to their second wedding anniversary in 1955 and divorced in 1956, just after he accompanied her to the world premiere of Carousel. She then married the young composer John Williams, who later became famous for Star Wars and many other films. Williams dedicated his First Violin Concerto to her memory . During her marriage to Williams, Ruick appeared in few motion pictures. They had three children together, one of whom, Joseph Williams, is lead singer in the rock band Toto.

Death

Ruick died in Reno, Nevada, at the age of 41, while playing a small role on location in Robert Altman's California Split. She was found dead the afternoon of March 3, 1974, in her hotel room, where her body had been lying for 10 to 12 hours. She had complained of nausea and a headache the previous night. The coroner determined that her death was caused by a ruptured berry (saccular) aneurysm and intracerebral hemorrhage. She was interred at the Columbarium of Blessedness, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.